I've been wanting to do this for a while, but didn't want to sink the money into an old car. Now's the right time - when the car is still "new". I did the front markers, tail/brake/markers, license plate, dome, and cargo lights. I did not touch the turn signals (LEDs tend to hyper-flash due to low resistance) or the headlights (none bright enough or focused enough or legal enough). I looked up oem-spec bulbs from
Sylvania to get reference Watts, color temp, and Lumens for selecting the replacements. I won't sacrifice safety.
I don't expect this to save much gas directly. What it will do is allow longer engine-off time and less overnight battery charging.
| Position | OEM Watts | LED Watts | SuperBright model |
| Brake/Taillight x2 | 25/5 | 2.5/0.5 | 7443-R45-T Red |
| Front Marker x2 | 4 | 0.7 | WLED-AHP6-AC Amber |
| License Plate x2 | 5 | 0.4 | WLED-WWHP6-AC Warm White |
| Dome | 10 | 0.8 | 3022-WWHP4 Warm White |
| Cargo | 5 | 1.6 | WLED-WWHP15-TAC Warm White |
The cargo light is much brighter than stock, which was badly needed.
I tried 2 different models of license plate light. One (WLED-WWHP6) has good color, but is a bit bright. The other (WLED-WW5) has a classic cheap LED green hue to the color. I'm not a fan.
I measured current draw at the battery. (x12.0 for watts) All measurements are with the car on but engine off (EOC).
| State | OEM power draw | LED power draw |
| No lights | 38W | 38W |
| Running/marker + taillights | 66W | 41W |
| Headlights | 176W | 151W |
I was surprised at how little power the car draws with lights off.
My first observation is that turning on the running lights hardly affects the battery at all.
2nd observation is that pressing the brakes hardly affects the battery. Before it would drop the voltage by -0.2V initially, dragging it down to -0.4V during one red light. Now it flickers between no change and -0.1V.
Front marker lights. (brightened for visibility, but the key is comparing the two)
Back end (photos untouched). The 220 lumen LED taillight is as bright as the 440 lumen incandescent, because all its output is red. Much of the incandescent's output is lost in the red lens.
Also, see the difference between the clean color of the xHP6 and the x5 leds. The HP series is better.
